Crisis erupts at Romanian newspaper over fired boss

Reporters at a Romanian newspaper, whose popular boss was sacked by its German owners, have said the move was a blatant violation of press freedom a month before the country's general election.

German owners WAZ removed Romania Libera editor Petre Mihai Bacanu, a dissident during communism, from the board of directors, prompting protests from staff who said they would ignore the decision.

"The stubborn attempts to strip the newspaper of its critical tone are a warning for freedom of speech in Romania," the editorial team of the independent daily said in a statement.

WAZ has denied accusations it was seeking to make the newspaper less critical of the authorities, saying it was trying to raise its quality to western journalistic standards.

"We don't want to change the direction of the paper, we want only to keep the brand and its market. We also want it to become a readable, a quality newspaper and not a tabloid," WAZ representative Klaus Overbeck told Reuters.

The crisis is the latest in Romania's troubled press, which last month saw another outspoken editor leave his newspaper after a conflict with its Swiss owners Ringier.

The European Union and media watchdogs say the distribution of state advertising to government-friendly media in a saturated market forces owners to limit criticism against the ruling Social Democrats (PSD).

The Reporters Without Frontiers watchdog ranked Romania in the 70th slot in its annual press freedom list issued on Thursday, worse than 59th last year and 45th in 2002.

Last month, Romania Libera used its full front page to protest at what it said was editorial interference by its owners, with journalists being told to cut political news and focus on lifestyle stories.

The newspaper has been especially critical of the ex-communists who have ruled the EU candidate country for all but four years since the 1989 collapse of communism.

PSD leads in opinion polls ahead of the November 28 presidential and parliamentary elections but an opposition centrist alliance is closing in.

Mr Overbeck said the board had elected him as president of Romania Libera because Bacanu's term had expired, and that WAZ as majority shareholder will take over responsibility for putting out the paper.

"I am in charge from now on," he said.

But the paper's 150-strong editorial team said they would continue to produce the paper as usual, ignoring WAZ.

"We have planted teams of journalists to guard the printing house and the newspaper offices to make sure we print our newspaper," a journalist from Romania Libera told Reuters.